Coin-operated automatic machines generally include a system, called coin mechanism, configured to manage payment with coins by means of the acceptance, storage and refunding of said coins. Coin mechanisms may be incorporated, for example, to automatic playing machines (so-called slot machines), coin-operated Internet-connected machines and, in general, any type of vending machines, such as automatic dispensers of beverages, tobacco, transport tickets, hygiene products, etc.
Coin mechanisms generally comprise reception means, for example, coin reception slots where through the user deposits the coins, allowing the coins to access the coin mechanism. Also, coin mechanisms comprise identifying means for identifying the acceptability of the coins (and, where applicable, their value) or non-acceptability of the coins (in which case the coins are refunded). Likewise, the coin mechanisms incorporate a coin storage compartment for housing, in a discriminated manner, the accepted coins destined for being refunded as change or a prize. Other coins, destined for being stored as cash collection, are guided towards a cash box disposed inside the automatic machine.
The coins destined for being refunded as change or a prize are guided towards the coin storage compartment disposed in the interior of the automatic machine, which comprises cylindrical deposits called tubes, where the coins are accumulated in a pile waiting to be refunded. The tubes comprise ejection slots on the lower part in order to allow access to a trigger incorporated to ejection means destined to extract the coins from the tubes.
A great diversity of coin mechanisms such as that generally described are known in the current state of the art, configured to be integrated in automatic machines of this kind. These include, inter alia, systems having three-tube systems, four-tube systems, five-tube systems, such as the Jofemar J2000 model or the Mei Cash-Flow model, and six-tube systems, such as the Crane Currenza model.
Automatic machines wherein coin mechanisms are installed have a limited space for housing said mechanism, which is predetermined in a standard manner, in such a manner that the maximum dimensions of the coin mechanisms are imposed by said standardised configuration of the automatic machines.
Most of the coin mechanisms have the problem of not being able to store sufficient coins allowing full autonomy, due to which, once the coins of a certain value are exhausted, the machine obliges the user to introduce the exact amount or inhibits the sale, leaving the machine out of order.
In order to solve this problem, many machines require the incorporation of external coin dispensers, which are manually replenished and whereover there is no accounting control. In other cases, the machines are obliged to incorporate other coin systems, such as revolving returners, for example that of Hopper, which have much greater autonomy but which, in turn, occupy a space five times greater than traditional coin systems, where there is often not enough space inside the automatic machine.
At the same time, another of the most usual problems is the coexistence, in the same country, of old and new coins of the same value but different physical shape, in which case, due to the fact that there is an insufficient number of tubes, only a few of them can be stored in said tubes, while the others are accepted but deviated directly to the coin storage compartment, thereby diminishing the autonomy of the system, as the coin storage compartment is fed by the coins that the users of the machines introduce to obtain a product or service.
The same problem occurs in those countries where coins of other countries are accepted in addition to the local currency, such as for example, England, where both pounds sterling and euros are accepted; Switzerland, where francs and euros are accepted; or Cuba, where pesos and US dollars are accepted, etc.
Another very common problem with the coin systems known in the state of the art is that they are generally highly accessible, in such a manner that they can be fraudulently manipulated without leaving any trace of said manipulation. Therefore, said coin systems imply a risk of theft of coins by the operators of said machines, which are not usually the owners themselves.
All of the aforementioned problems can be summarised in the need to provide a coin mechanism for automatic machines that not accept payment with coins, which allows storage in the coin storage compartment of the maximum possible number of types, in order to increase the autonomy and versatility of the automatic machine, within the aforementioned space constraints.